Good academic advising involves the ability to prompt students to take responsibility for choices about their education and to assist them in the development of realistic goals. Academic advising carries the teaching role past the classroom for the purpose of helping student make educational choices in the larger contexts of the department and the College. (See the Faculty Handbook for further discussion the advisor's role and how it fits into your career. See the New Advisor Handbook if you are new to advising). All full time students are assigned an advisor from the Faculty and/or some academic support administrators.

Expectations of advisors include:

Meet regularly with each advisee. It is important to post office hours, respond to emails in a timely manner, and indicate a sincere interest in your advisee’s progress at Cornell.

Have a thorough understanding of the curriculum, all-college requirements, course sequences, and requirements for a major. The Course Catalogue, Course Schedule, Compass, and FERPA rules are all resources with which you should be familiar. When students have questions regarding policy or requirements, check the Catalogue, ask a colleague, your dept. chair, the Registrar, or the Associate Dean.

Keep track of your advisees’ academic progress. If an advisee receives a low grade in a class, meet with the advisee to help ascertain the cause of the low grade. Help advisees create a plan of action to address academic difficulties. This may entail referrals to the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), the Coordinator of Academic Support and Advising, the Dean of Students for early warning, the counseling center, etc.

Review the College’s educational priorities with advisees and discuss their progress in meeting these objectives.

Advising is an important and serious responsibility for each faculty member at Cornell College. It is part of the consideration during faculty review. Most, but not all, faculty/advisee relations are engaging and meaningful. Should you become frustrated or confused when working with advisees, ask for help from colleagues, your department chair, the Registrar or the Associate Dean.

The Coordinator of Academic Advising may also be a valuable resource. Colleagues may be consulted or your suggestions on advising may be shared via Moodle.

If you recognize a student is in any kind of academic or personal struggle, it is worthwhile to notify Early Warning. You simply put "EarlyWarning" in the To: box of email and write what you know including the student's full name. That email goes directly to the Dean of Students and Academic Support and Advising Coordinator and then they decide how to approach the situation.